“I think he’s a great No.6.” This Monday will see the announcement of Ireland’s extended squad for the 2021 Guinness Six Nations. Andy Farrell’s squad is expected to contain a few uncapped players, including two exciting Munster prospects, who will certainly be there on merit. Among the new and returning faces will be a player […]

5 years ago

“Sometimes, you more remember the losses than the wins.” For Mike McCarthy, for all his hard graft and strong performances, success came late in his rugby career. There were close calls too, with Leinster and Ireland, and he admits a couple of games still cause some troubled nights. The London-born lock first made his name, […]

5 years ago

“Eimear, will you and Ian stop talking about Ulster, please?!” While the Champions Cup has been postponed until a later date, the 2021 Guinness Six Nations is set to proceed from early February. France have already named their extended squad, but Ireland may wait until later this month to follow suit. The last two weekends’ Guinness […]

5 years ago

“And you’d be like, ‘Has Pienaar got a bib?!’ It was one of those ones.” Darren Cave is out of the game just over 18 months now, but it just took a couple of stories to toss him straight back into how it felt to be a player dreading whether he would be selected, or […]

5 years ago

“I absolutely loved the guy. I think the sun shines out of his arse. He’s an absolute national treasure!” As anyone that every watched Paul O’Connell celebrating correctly guessing Borussia Mönchengladbach as a Question of Sport answer will testify, the Munster man is a born competitor. Whereas the likes of Peter Stringer, Ronan O’Gara and, […]

5 years ago

“We’ve got to break this cycle.” For a stretch of days and nights, last autumn, Brian O’Driscoll pored through a book about female sports stars from Ireland, with his children Sadie and Billy. His son followed the stories closely, but Sadie was rapt. She must have been too young to remember stepping out onto the […]

5 years ago